A couple years back I had quite a ride on the Grand Loop. Apparently it didn’t cure me of wanting to go back. I wanted to do it last year SS but it didn’t work out timing-wise. This year it is still a big question mark but the dreams come still…
It hasn’t been done on a SS yet. A few have tried. It’s not a friendly route. So what bike would be best for the beast? Suspension front and rear might be nice…since I don’t yet have the (much anticipated) WBR Siren Song I cobbled together a beast with some old parts and came up with this:
FS with tensioner. I’ve had a tensioner fail before so I’m not so sure this is viable for GLR, but it will be fun to play with in the meantime. And yes, that is a wireless disc PT :)
There is no semi-official date anymore for the GLR but there is quite a bit of semi-serious chatter over on bikepacking.net about aligning a time for a “group ITT.” The snowpack at the Columbine snotel is just about zero right now, which might lead one to think the upper reaches of the Tab will clear by ~May 15. However…
I think May 22 would be the soonest it *may* be clear, May 29 being the safer bet. Although the snowpack at Columbine has cleared out about the same time as in ’07, the snowpack a mere 2 weeks prior was much deeper this year. The Tab is a lot more sheltered and a bit higher than Columbine…so Plesko, there’s something to consider.
I am selling a 06 Honda CRF 250X if you want to pick one up for Lynda. Just saw your green machine in the background. And thought she might need a partner.
May 29 would be a good time :)
thats quite a single speed….
Cochiti 110 is May 29…I’d be up for meeting early June. My only plans for June are the 12 hours of Rim Nordic and I’d love to give this a go.
As for the tensioner – ditch it. You’d be asking for trouble on that route. Have you tried magic gear combos? Go with 8-speed chains (and one that is already stretched a bit), buy some half-links and then go with steel cogs and chainrings as they do not wear down so fast. Sheldon Brown has a calculator to find gear combos that will work with your chainstay length. The just pack a tensioner in your pack if and when you do wear down enough that the chains starts to fall off (with magic gear combos – it will eventually because you have no re-tensioning ability.)
Even better would be the ENO hub, but of course you prolly want your power tap there. I have one you can borrow for the route if you want it – disk and on Ritchey rim.
Hey Matt – the tensioner sucked on the very first ride. Any power over 400w had it skipping. But…SS and FS is am amazing combo! So I fixed the problem, I pulled the trigger on a Lenz Sport Milk Money, thanks to some help by MC :) I am no retro grouch like most of the SS crowd!
Are you going to be at Mesa Verde? We’re coming…maybe we can chat about GLR and I know LW would like to meet Jeni.
Yep, well be there – and yeah lets talk about the route. Jeni will be my bottle babe again too.
A Santa Fe guy who posts as Skip-n-dizzy on MTBR successfully ran a SS on a Santa Cruz Superlight single pivot bike. He did use a tensioner though I believe. The only tensioner that worked for me was the Rennen Rollenlager but then you now introduce significant drag on the chain….. which is downright silly.
P.S. The GL Route preferred would be Tab-Paradox-Kokopelli, I believe. I’d rather get those drainages out of the way …….